Change of Plans
by Mirrored Illusions
Summary: Calling all the Potentials was supposed to make things better, instead it got them all killed. And to restore the balance she tipped over she has to move to another dimension. Buffy/Ronon.
1. Chane of Plans

Two years had passed since they had activated all the Potentials Slayers. It had taken them 5 days to realize that the newly awakened Slayers were rapidly getting killed off and there were no one left to take their place. The Sunnydale Slayers hadn't just been killed by vampires and demons, but by various accidents – both for over- or underestimating their new abilities but also by what appeared to be genuine misfortune.

The Scooby Gang didn't fare any better. Xander was killed in an elevator malfunction two days before the anniversary of the Battle of Sunnydale. Willow was poisoned 5 weeks later in an unrelated incident after being mistaken for someone else. Giles was killed in a car crash when the breaks on his rental car gave out two days after they arrived in Los Angeles.

Robin died of the injuries he sustained during the battle with the Turok Hahn and the Bringers. Andrew was accidentally caught in the crossfire of an FBI shootout. None of the Sunnydale Slayers made it past two months.

Unknown to the Chosen Two the Powers That Be had taken the opportunity to erase Dawn from existence right before the Hellmouth caved in on itself. Well, they had erased the human aspects of her, and she was now back to being a ball of green energy.

In short it meant that on the second year anniversary there were only two people standing on edge of Lake Sunnydale; Buffy and Faith.

"Did you have one of those Slayer Dreams before we got here, B?" Faith asked, her voice as low and raspy as ever.

A brief nod from the blonde Slayer confirmed her suspicions, "Yes. What did you see in yours?"

"Red's spell only activated the living Potentials, but not the unborn ones. We're back to the Chosen One, or rather the Chosen _Two_." The dark-haired woman smirked.

"Apparently I'm going to live for at least another decade. Probably longer. The new little Potentials need time to grow up." Buffy nodded, it made sense given the situation.

"Mine was different. Very different." Buffy looked across the lake and tried to pinpoint where Revello Drive and her old house should have been. "According to the PTB, I'm a true immortal and I have to leave this dimension so the First won't get another chance to take over."

Faith stiffened. She had always been one half of the Chosen Two, and for the four months she had been the Chosen _One _she'd been in jail and not able to slay anything. All of B's little friends were dead. Angel and all _his_ little friends had been killed the year before in their own apocalyptic showdown with Evil, Inc. As were all the little Slayers Red had activated. Only B was left, and she had to leave again to save the world. She snorted mentally to herself, death really was B's gift.

To add insult to the injury she was still an escaped convict, and had to be very careful with where she went at any given time. With B gone she'd be completely alone again, just like she'd been before Diana had found her. Well, not completely, she was a fully-fledged Slayer now, but still. Slayers were supposed to have back-up, and who the hell knew where the remains of the Council were. Not that she wanted anything to do with those morons.

"Bright side Blondie, no more vamps. Right?"

Buffy grimaced. "Not exactly. Apparently there are _space_ vampires there and the Powers That Suck want me to take up the fight." Faith rolled her eyes in exasperation. Of course they did.

"There IS a bright side though." Buffy's grin was infectious. "They can see into this dimension, but they have no jurisdiction and can't do anything to mess with me or anyone else there since it doesn't have magic." Buffy turned and started walking along the water's edge before she inclined her head to get Faith to follow.

"Whistler showed up and gave me some kind of magical wrist protection things and a magical wallet to store stuff in."

Faith blinked. What? "…and you need that why?" Buffy gave her an amused smile.

"According to Whistler the wallet thing is similar to the bottomless, indestructible, and feather light purse things they have in the Harry Potter books. I have no idea whose idea that was, but it's going to come in really handy since I'm going to be planet hopping for the rest of eternity."

"Don't suppose I get one of those, too?" It was a slim hope, but she had to stay alive for at least another decade.

"No idea, but he said he'd find you after I've left. So maybe?" Packing everything she owned into something the size of a wallet would simplify her life a lot. No need for extra storage on her bike, no need to worry about having to leave it behind if she had to leave in a hurry, or that someone would steal it. It sounded _sweet_.

"You've been busy shopping, that's why there's been so many people in the background every time I've called you in the last week." Her Slayer hearing had made it easy to hear Buffy but the background noise was still a little annoying.

The combination of humor, exasperation, and guilt followed by a small smile told Faith everything she needed to know about her friend.

"The chance of me finding a mall there is pretty much zero and I won't have anything to pay with anyways. Somehow I doubt they'll take American dollars." She drew in a breath before she continued.

"Anyways. I've been stocking up on food, water, other liquids, clothes, medical supplies, weapons, survival books and anything they say I need. I'll run out of the stuff sooner or later, but it'll be good to have while it lasts." She smiled sadly.

"How long do you have? Before you leave, I mean?"

"About 48 hours. Whistler said he'd tell me how to get there then."

They'd continued talking for over an hour before they went back to LA, spent a few hours patrolling before they split and agreed to meet the next day.

* * *

Two days later Buffy was back beside Lake Sunnydale and waiting impatiently for the PTB's messenger demon. She and Faith had spent some time together, exchanged a few gifs, and talked. Buffy had given the Scythe to Faith, after all she was about to become _The_ Slayer and the weapon was meant for the Chosen One to slay demons and vampires on Earth and more importantly in this reality.

Forty minutes later she stepped out of an artificial wormhole for the first time.

* * *

92 years after that a Runner arrived on the planet she was about to leave. Unfortunately a group of Wraith foot soldiers arrived shortly after, but before she had the chance to introduce herself to tall, dark, and dangerous.

A short fight and an unconscious man later she quickly dialed another world before she carefully lifted him up and carried him through the Gate.  
Several planets later she put him down carefully inside a small shelter she used when she was on this world. He woke a few minutes later when she had gotten the small fire burning.

She kept an eye on him at all times, taking your eyes off strange men were after all a bad idea, especially if said man was armed, injured, woke up somewhere different than where he was when he got knocked out, and generally looked dangerous. Essentially being supergirl didn't mean she could let down her guard.

Her lust bunnies had woken up and taken notice though, despite the fact that he was dirty and a lot taller than she normally went for she was certain that he would clean up well.

A movement out of the corner of her eye told her that her guest had finally decided to rejoin the land of the conscious, and she turned her head towards him and smiled.

"Greetings." She said calmly in a low voice. Don't spook the man, she thought quietly to herself. "I'm Buffy. Do you have any injuries other than the one on your arm?"

He barely inclined his head to return her greeting, before he said "Ronon. No."

Ronon carefully tried to move his arms and legs to check if the Wraith stunner had worn off enough that he could sit up, but he ended up falling down on his back again. The mistrustful glare wasn't encouraging, but then again she didn't expect him to be cheerful and smiling.

The wound on his arm wasn't deep, but she had cleaned it carefully before she put a bandage around it while he was still out. It didn't take a lot of guess work on her part to come to the conclusion that he was most likely a Runner. His dirty and quickly put together outfit, the exhaustion and lack of surprise when the Wraith came through the Gateway was a dead giveaway.

All she had to do now was to convince him to stay long enough for a good meal and then get it through his head that if he let her accompany him it would make his life easier.


	2. I See You Watching Me

It turned out that it wasn't as difficult to convince Ronon to let her accompany him as she had expected it to be. It hadn't been easy, but she expected the promise of more varied food, medical supplies, and most of all, human contact who was fully aware of the risks he represented would be more tempting than he could resist. And she had been right. Pointing out that she had saved him from the Wraith had gone a long way, even if his pride was somewhat hurt.

Of course, the meal she had quickly prepared while he was unconscious and then given to him when the effects of the Wraith stunner had dissipated had also worked well to convince him. Gone were the times when she had no time to even attempt to cook. Nearly a century of having to mostly cook for herself had forced Buffy to learn not only how to prepare food she was more or less unfamiliar with, but also how to hunt for her own dinner, and how to recognize eatable fruits and vegetables in an unknown Galaxy.

Luckily Ronon had turned out to be good company. He was very self-sufficient, had a vast knowledge of empty worlds both with and without animals and other things they could eat, and best of all he knew of trading planets and market places she had never even heard of.

Every now and then she would go to one of them and trade whatever they had for whatever they needed at the time. Some of the planets allowed her to be a seasonal worker. Those worlds were both a blessing and a curse; on one hand she had always been social and as a result craved the human contact of more than just a single person, but on the other hand she hated to leave Ronon to himself while she enjoyed the limited luxury that came with human settlements while he was cursed to always be on the move.

Buffy stepped out of the Gateway and immediately looked for her friend along the tree line. A normal human would not have been able to spot the tall warrior hiding among the bushes and other green things that obscured the view this late at night. He had placed himself at the perfect place to see who came out of the Gate without being seen himself, even when the bright splash from the wormhole was established and the resulting lightshow that bathed the surrounding area in light.

A small smile showed on her face for a few seconds before she quickly started walking towards him with her precious merchandise. She'd gone on a supply run to the Aruleen Market on Kten. It was a world she had first heard about from another Runner some 60 years previously, and it remained as one of her favorite places to shop.

No one lived permanently on Kten, and it was instead a safe haven for trading for anyone who knew the address. It had at least three major markets at any given time, and several smaller ones. You could trade anything from food and medicine to clothes, weapons, live animals, jewelry, and just about anything else you could ever want.

Buffy had found out that it was one of a few selected worlds that were supposedly protected by the Ancestors. An acquaintance on a more advanced planet had told her that it wasn't protected by the Ancestors as much as it was one of the worlds that was protected by technology they had left behind.

Even better it had some kind of shield that prevented violence and made Wraith technology go completely haywire and explode. You couldn't even have a good old-fashioned fist-fight without all participants being knocked unconscious. It had eerily reminded her of Caritas at first, sans the karaoke.

"Any problems?" Ronon's low voice blended well with the night sounds.

"No. I got everything, including information on the people who are supposed to have found one of the Alterran cities and moved in." She'd first heard the rumors a few months before and it had intrigued her, mainly because the villagers had called the city 'Atlantis'.

"Apparently they've allied themselves with the Athosians. Tagan's daughter Teyla was part of the group that visited Heral."

Ronon raised an eyebrow. "Do you know Teyla?"

The people of Athos were well-known as farmers and fair traders across many worlds, though they hadn't had any agreements with Sateda for several generations. It was one of the many peoples they had talked about to try and find some common ground early on.

"No. I've only seen her once when she was about four. It's doubtful that she remembers me, unless Tagan or Torren told her any stories. The few times I've dealt with the Athosians I talked to either Gerta, Layla, or Halling."

Buffy had met Tagan and Halling three decades ago, as part of a trade agreement between Athos and Nokel. She hadn't actually been involved in the discussions, but had rather been allowed to watch the proceedings. Later on she had been responsible for introducing the Athosians to other people who wanted to set up trade agreements between themselves and Tagan's people.

She allowed her eyes to roam over Ronon's tall and slender form, supposedly to check for injuries, but mainly because she wanted to and since he was distracted by the goods she had bought there was an opportunity. When she turned to walk back to the dialing device she saw him run his eyes over her, hopefully for the same reasons. A small satisfied smile graced her lips.

Three hours later they were on yet another world, this one had a magnificent green light that went through pretty much the entire color range. The temperature was pleasantly cool, and from previous experience she knew it wouldn't change much throughout the night. It was a beautiful place to have their evening meal before they made up their sleeping arrangements.

She was responsible for most of the conversation, telling him about her talk with her contact on Heral, and the extra clothes she's bought for him. Mostly they sat in silence, ever vigilant in case the Wraith, wild animals, or other people made an appearance.

*BtVS - SGA*

Five weeks later they walked through the Gateway to yet another planet where the Stargate stood proudly on a raised dais. The area around it was more or less cleared of rocks and small shrubbery, but another one of the seemingly ever-present forests that so often greeted them every time they stepped out of a Gate was obscuring the horizon right in front of them. Behind them, and on each side, was a tall, broad mountain chain effectively blocking their path in three directions.

A quick, silent look between them and they began walking toward the forest and the cover it provided. Each of them kept an eye to their respective side, in Buffy's case it was the left and Ronon had the right, and they switched who glanced behind them to ensure that no one was following them or hiding behind the trees. You never knew who or what was looking for a kill, or simply a thrill with them as the main entertainment.

They reached a small clearing about 20 minutes in, and Ronon silently began checking out the abandoned fire pit while Buffy kept her eyes on their surroundings and waited patiently with the twigs and small logs she'd been collecting for the last half of their walk. After handing the burden off to her friend, along with the magical wallet they had stored the food in this time, she went to collect water from a stream she could hear not far away.

Learning to work together had for the most part gone well, with only a few of their more ingrained habits crashing and causing friction. Luckily there were compromises and ways of soothing frayed tempers. A few months in they were working seamlessly and completing each other's tasks.

*BtVS - SGA*

Buffy had been accompanying Ronon for about three and a half Earth years when she first saw someone who she suspected were from her old homeworld. Or, more likely, this dimensions version of Earth. Regardless three of the people they saw walking through the trees had a familiar flag with stars and stripes on them. It caused a strong pang of homesickness she hadn't felt in a long time, but she still didn't move. Military didn't equal safety or even good people. She needed more information, and this was a golden opportunity to get it.

She looked at her friend and inclined her head in the other direction from the military team in front of them, and the two of them disappeared further into the underbrush.

"Do you recognize them?

"I recognize the small red, white, and blue patch on their shoulders, but I'm not certain about the fourth. They're flags from my homeworld. Which means they're most likely the ones living in Atlantis."

"You said that city was a myth and not real."

Buffy gave him a small, fleeting smile. "The Lost City of Atlantis is a myth on Earth, but that doesn't mean it can't be based on truth. Or that what is a myth in my dimension is reality in this one."

They walked nearly silently through the forest, the small noises they made were blending in perfectly with the surrounding sounds of nature. After over 20 minutes Buffy saw the Gateway through the trees, which meant they had less than five minutes before they ran out of natural hiding places unless they wanted to announce their presence to the probable Earth people.

A quick, non-verbal conversation, consisting for the most part of eye contact, small head movements, and some pointing, and the two of them moved about seven feet apart before they settled down to eavesdrop on the four men in front of the Gateway. With any luck they were unaware of their audience and would let slip something vital, or at the very least something of importance.

Buffy, having both superior hearing and vision, was furthest away. Her hearing picking up even the smallest sound or the lowest whisper. Not that the team were whispering, but still.

So far they had only heard a short sit-rep (they had found nothing of interest), some small talk (what would be served for dinner, and what could be traded for coffee and who still had some of the precious liquid), and some light whining from the fourth member who was apparently some kind of foreign scientist. In other words nothing useful, except that to her disappointment there was probably no coffee in her future.

Soon after, the leader, a tall man with dark blond hair, stepped forward and began pushing down the buttons for the six constellations needed to plot their course back home before finally putting his hand on the blue-green dome that activated the portal. The not-water splashed out before re-settling back into its usual rippling surface. Another of the soldiers walked through first with the scientist quickly following, and the leader and the last soldier entering a few steps behind.

The blue-white surface winked out a few seconds later leaving the Slayer and the Runner as the only humans on this abandoned planet.

After waiting the pre-arranged five minutes they cautiously rose and stepped forward and did a quick but through scan of the immediate area. There were no one but them left, and to Buffy's surprise the team hadn't left any litter behind. Huh. The Initiative hadn't always remembered to clean up after themselves.

"They were careful enough not to say anything that could be used against them." Ronon's low rumbling voice commented. "Did you get their address?"

"Yes, I had a good view of the dialing device and wrote it down." She walked up beside him while securing the magical wallet in one of the inside pockets of her jacket. Any time they came upon a planet where there were people they left as soon as possible, even if the people in question took off on their own. It wasn't safe to stay.

"And they did say something that could be used against them." Buffy's hands moved over the dialing pads in a familiar pattern before she activated the Gateway. Once on the other side Ronon dialed another planet.

"They are running out of food from their homeworld, which probably means that they've been here longer than we thought. The better question is if they're growing their own food, trading, or both to keep themselves alive." They were scanning the rocky world they had landed on. It was barren with rocks and mountains in the near distance, which meant caves to hide in. There was nothing alive as far as either of them could see in any direction after completing a 360 degree turn. The only signs of civilization was the Gateway they had just exited and the dialing device.

Ronon began walking towards an area that would most likely hold either caves or some kind of naturally shielded enclosure where they could sleep for the night.

"Which means if they are working with the Athosians then they will most likely trade with some of the same worlds that they do. Which in turn means we have a way of getting more information."

Ronon's annoyed and slightly hurt look did nothing to tamper her enthusiasm, nor did the equally annoyed questions.

"Why do you want to contact them? You've already said you don't trust them. According to you they'd probably use you as a test subject. Or have you decided that since you've found people from your homeworld you'd rather keep them company?"

She smiled at him. "Don't be ridiculous, of course I want your company. It's just that if they're as advanced as my Earth then there's a VERY good chance that they can remove your tracker." She cocked her head to the side in contemplation.

"We need to find a way to avoid going back to Atlantis for that though. I really don't trust them, but they can still be of use to us."

The twosome continued their discussion and by the time they had found a suitable enclosure and were getting ready to rest for the night they had the beginnings of a plan.


End file.
